THE DEMON WITHIN (A ZENDAYA RPF)

SLICED

                                                                      THURSDAY May 7, 2015

Zendaya stares off at her reflection in the mirror, sitting in a chair inside her trailer. She is displeased with her appearance. She was scheduled for a Maxim magazine photoshoot, a typical oversexualized fashion magazine for women. 

Zendaya wasn't content with her look for the magazine cover. Her makeup made her skin look greasy, and her outfit seemed out of place - tacky and perverted, like something from Hugh Hefner's magazines. She joked to the photographer that she looked like she was styled by a registered sex offender. Someone knocked at her door, eager to enter her trailer and chat.

                           "Who is it?" asked Zendaya.

                         "It's Dianne, I want to talk," the voice replied.

                           "Come in," said Zendaya.

Dianne Burwinn, Zendaya's publicist who had helped book many of her popular photoshoots, entered. Dianne was a petite, gray-haired woman with a long nose and wrinkly skin.

                "I heard there were some issues happening on set. What's wrong?" asked Dianne.

                 "I don't like it. I'm just not feeling the look - it's fucking atrocious and unprofessional. I don't like my hair. I don't like my makeup, and I'm almost ready to leave. Worst of all, the crew refuses to redraft the idea," explained Zendaya.

                  "Now, I understand you don't agree with this, but I have to warn you - you can't keep leaving the set while work is in session. It's a bad reflection on you as a worker. You're hired to work your scheduled hours. This is the third time this has happened; pretty soon, you're gonna get blacklisted from jobs, and we don't want this damaging your rep," Dianne cautioned.

             "I honestly don't care, Dianne. I don't owe any of those horny fuckers anything. I'm helping out their brand; they need me more than I need them, especially these freaks. I show up and handle my work correctly on every shoot. You know this; it's why we're still booking jobs. I don't know what the fuck you got me into here - this is way below my rep anyway," Zendaya argued.

     "Zendaya, you have to be careful. I know you do great work. I just need you to control your temper. I know how frustrating work can be, I get it. I really don't want you to get blacklisted from publication sources; you're better than that. You work too hard. Could you at least try to get back out there and hustle your way through it? Maxim's a reputable magazine that has many beautiful young up-and-coming women like yourself. A front-page cover could extend your reach to older audiences overseas who could help maximize box office numbers," Dianne reasoned.

         "Not when I look like I just crawled out of a gutter in this shitty outfit. Look at me, Dianne. Obviously, this look doesn't scream 'movie star.' This isn't for me at all. I don't know what you got me into," Zendaya complained

             "Neither of us has time for this right now. Whether you like it or not, Maxin has never had a black girl on the cover in years. You should be happy with what you have," suggested Dianne.

Hearing Dianne appropriate her struggle quickly made Zendaya angry. She rose to her feet from her chair and stepped up close to Dianne, intending to intimidate her.

             "What? Are you serious? I've had more than enough of this. Dianne, we're through here. You're fired. I have a reputation to keep clean, and you're failing to do your job properly enough to keep it steady. I'm not settling for shitty photoshoots or publicists passing off mediocre work as a standard. Work with someone else and see how much you can fuck up their career since this is acceptable to you."